First Thoughts on Year C Epistle Passages from the
Lectionary

Epiphany 3

William Loader

Epiphany 3: 27 January 1 Corinthians
12:12-31a

This
passage belongs to the discussion "about spiritual gifts", which
began in 12:1. It is clear from the way our passage starts that it continues
that discussion. It does so by focusing on unity. Claims to spiritual gifts had
lead to disunity in Corinth. Paul is not denying the claims to have spiritual
gifts, but he is seriously undermining the assumption that if one has such
spiritual gifts one is spiritual. On the contrary gifts can be used
inappropriately. That includes: divisively. When that occurs, such abilities
generated by people's (original) openness to the Spirit, become the enemy of
the gospel. By driving a wedge between people's gifts and their ultimate source
Paul is able to call people to account whose spirituality is divisive. Next
week we shall see that he does this by identifying a higher criterion: love.
Whatever does not embody and reflect love is not Christian spirituality
according to Paul.

In
our passage Paul employs a common image used to understand both the way the
world works and the way communities work: the human body. 12:12 is interesting
for the way it ends. Having stated that the body is one despite having many
parts, he declares not that this is an illustration of the church, but states
simply: "so also is Christ". Christ is a body with many members. We
are often more familiar with the later use of the image in Colossians and
Ephesians according to which Christ is the head and the church is the rest of
the body. That is not what Paul is saying here. Here he states that Christ is
the body.

In
12:13 Paul goes some way towards explaining what he means. By baptism (read: by
faith and baptism) we entered Christ's body. So his body is like his risen life
reaching out in communication. It is like a sphere of influence and life. The
end of 12:13 uses an alternative image: we drink of the one Spirit. Behind this
is the same idea: the Spirit is the active influence which brings Christ to us
and us to Christ. So on one image we enter a body, a personal sphere of
influence and being. On the other image we begin to drink of the one Spirit.
Paul knows and uses a tradition which emphasised the unity of Jew and Gentile
as we all enter the one body. Gal 3:28 links Jew and Gentiles
with slave and free and male and female. Male and female is missing
here, probably because it has been subject to some misinterpretation which Paul
had to deal with in 1 Corinthians 7.

So
Paul now uses what originally celebrated the unity of Jew and Gentile, to argue
that the same sense of unity should characterise local communities, especially
as they seek to respond to the Spirit. In 12:14 he returns to where he began in
12:12, to emphasise that there is one body, though it has many parts. 12:15-19
he expands the argument. It is absurd to imagine parts of the body denying they
need one another or claiming to be all that matters.
So in 12:20 Paul again restates the main point: we are one body with many
parts. 12:21-26 expands the argument still further. The parts of the body need
each other. 12:22 turns to the weaker parts of the body, noting that they are
very necessary. Then he goes a step further, somewhat playfully noting that the
parts of the body about which we are most modest (have a sense of shame) are
those we honour most by giving them special covering (12:22-23)! God made us
that way (12:24). 12:25 reemphasises the unity of the body and the mutual
caring of its parts for each other. 12:26 underlines solidarity in suffering
and success.

The
illustration is rich. We might wonder what specific situations Paul had in mind
as he wrote this to the Corinthians. Were so called less important people being
neglected? On the basis of 1 Corinthians 11 one would have to say, yes, indeed.
There, too, Paul complains of lack of unity - even when they were celebrating holy communion, a feast of solidarity! In the early chapters
there are similar signs: some claiming to be wiser than others, more gifted in
speech and miracles. Paul will bring all such claims down to earth in 1
Corinthians 13.

12:27
returns again to the main point: Christ is one body and we are parts of his
body. So there ought to be a sense of unity and solidarity. 12:28-30 brings us
back to the area which seems to have generated conflict: how people exercised
their gifts. It echoes the statement in 12:8-11, only here particular roles,
rather than gifts, are listed. All these roles were vital for the life of the
Christian community, especially those first mentioned. There is a hierarchy of
importance, but it is not meant to be a hierarchy of the kind that puts others
down. The roles relate to particular functions, not to any sense of status on
its own. Apostles were authorised pioneers who helped spread Christianity to
new areas and then tried to ensure the new communities kept in touch and on the
rails. Prophets probably referred to preachers in local communities, but may
also have included a role of inspired prediction and utterances.

Paul's
list should not be seen as a complete compendium. It is about functions. People
have different functions. There needs to be solidarity among the various roles
so that the body of Christ can be healthy and communicate effectively. The
focus should be on those roles which come earlier in the list. Matters like
speaking in tongues come last, because Paul probably sensed that they were
given too much emphasis at Corinth. This is why he gives it special treatment
in 1 Corinthians 14.

Paul
challenges us to see ourselves as the embodiment of Christ in the world, not
primarily as individuals but as local communities, yet belonging also to a
larger whole. Difference is acknowledged. People are not all the same. They do
not all have the same abilities. The common life is nothing other than the life
of Christ, the life of the Spirit. This remains the constant. In each situation
the working out may vary, although not without the apostolic connection which keeps
us connected to the whole in present time and in
history. Thus Paul deals with the common problems of divisiveness, especially
of the kind generated by claims to the Spirit, by bringing people back to
basics. Our sense of identity lies not in the role we play, nor the status, nor
the reward our role brings, but in the sense of oneness with the life of Christ
which is the life of God - and ultimately the life of all that is. We are not
asked as individuals to be Christ or Christs, let alone saviours of the world,
although many suffer from this misconception and the burn out it produces. We
are asked to be members of a body, of Christ, and to play our part - not more,
not less.